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Canon
The word Canon refers to the collection of stories, writings, and facts within a fictional universe which are considered true, or official material. This term comes from the Bible, and originally refers to the books included therein, excluding apocrypha (The books that were left out of the Bible and other works). It has since been applied to various science fiction and fantasy universes, as a way to distinguish events that "really happened" within their fictional universes from those that didn't. For example, Star Trek comic books are not considered canon to the TV series -- that is, events depicted in those comics didn't really happen in the ''Star Trek ''universe. Different franchises have different rules regarding what material counts as canon, and the Paper Computer Games franchise is no different. This article discusses the canon of the Paper Computer Game universe. The Going Rule Currently, the issue of canon hasn't really been brought up much; there haven't been many disputes. As such, the creators currently (for the most part, but not unilaterally) maintain that the rule for canonicity is as follows: "Everything's Canon". This is a simple rule, and also a temporary one. Things are expected to get more complicated later on. For the most part, PCGs don't contradict each other that much so far. And when they DO contradict, you're generally supposed to find a way to reconcile the events of the two stories. If this is impossible, it has to be taken on a case-by-case basis- but usually, even if two things are irreconcilably contradicting, both stories still have canon value- that is, characters, locations, and events featured in both games do exist in the PCG universe. This is the rule followed by this wiki, and it is open to dispute (by necessity); and furthermore, individual fans may make up their own rules for what they consider canon. What counts as 'Everything'? When we say that "Everything's Canon", what counts as 'Everything'? Here's a simple list of kinds of material included in that: * Paper Computer Games, made by anyone. * Paper-less Computer Games, essentially PCGs without the paper component, made by anyone. * Computer Games taking place in the PCG universe, made by anyone. * Other media, such as movies, comics, and prose * Chronicles Addendum material. * Statements by the creators. Series 1 and 2 For much of PCG history, all games were made by one maker, and they all featured a continuing series of adventures by the same characters. Since there was one author at this point, he considered all of his stories canon. This was BronzeCo's Series 1. There were also a small number of games produced by another producer around then, whose canon status were never adressed until recently. Much later, a sequel series was made by BronzeCo, which followed closely off the adventures of the first series. As such, all events from both series were considered canon by BronzeCo. XaQ's Series A newer series, by the publisher XaQ (Recently renamed as DGAME), was set up as a spin-off to Series 2. It held all the events of series 1 and 2 to be its backstory, including them in its canon. However, at first this didn't go both ways. BronzeCo initially didn't feel these games were up to par and didn't consider them canon to his series. Later on, however, he came to enjoy the games and they were welcomed into his canon, making for one (hopefully) unified story. XaQ's series has continued, and generally tries to remain faithful to the continuing events of Series 2, although many complications have arisen. For example, certain major events have occured in Xaq's series which greatly affect the lives of the characters in both series, but these changes have yet to be included in Series 2. However, there has yet to be a direct contradiction there. Kurt Elfman's Series Kurt Elfman's games, which were partially inspired by XaQ's series, did not attempt to "spin off" of the events of those games. His games all take place in original settings with original characters, completely unrelated to the established Paper Computer Game storyline. With more recent installments, however, Elfman has played up his series' inclusion in the PCG universe by including various characters and events within his games, both from Xaq's series and from Series 1 and 2. Similarly, many of his characters have appeared in XaQ's series. Keith Doomsday Keith's games were never created with the intention of being part of the Paper Computer Game storyline, and rarely if ever included elements of previous games. So, his games were the first that explicitely did NOT consider any other games canon. Whether or not this is, in fact, the case, his games are still considered canon to the rest of the PCG universe. The biggest evidence of this is the race of technologically advanced Space-Balls which are the central race of the Space-Balls series and are clearly an evolved form of the Ape-Balls introduced in Keith's first game, Xaq to the Future. Krierre House Krierre's games are very different, stylistically, from any other games that had thus far been made. Aditionally, they notably take place at the beginning of time. The games include earlier versions of characters who appear as regulars in Series 2 and XaQ's series. Whether or not these characters' appearances conflict with other stories is debatable. So far, the Soul Symphony Series appears to fit into canon. Other Additionally, a number of others have made a small number of games, maybe one or two each. There aren't any notable examples, as all seem either to fit into canon pretty well, or otherwise simply be so far-removed from the story that it doesn't matter. Also, there are a bunch of sources other than Paper Computer Games themselves. There are stories, all of which are so far canon. The 'Perfect One' series of comics does further complicate things, but is considered canon and has been referenced in multiple games. The computer game 'Bots' currently has minimal storyline and it is unknown how it fits into the Space-Balls storyline. The creator has said that it might, in fact, be uncanon. This would be a first. Additionally, there are a number of Paper Computer Game characters that have appeared outside the PCG universe. The most notable example is Ginkus - He appears in hundreds of different settings, in different forms all the time. Are these appearances to be considered canon to Ginkus' history, and hence to the PCG story? So far, they are, and have been worked into the storyline. In fact, the character of Nezareth, Ginkus' nemesis, first appeared battling Ginkus well outside the boundaries of the PCG universe, and has since migrated into it (Because he follows Ginkus wherever he goes, trying to kill him for unknown reasons). Player Actions PCGs present a unique problem for defining canon: In a PCG, the player's actions can actually determine the outcome of the story. For example, in Malphoid: the Mailbox-Bot, the original player of Malphoid failed to complete the tasks on time, thus getting fired. As a result, the sequel was titled "Malphoid: Fired!" and featured Malphoid getting a new job. When more than one player plays through the same game, this becomes a problem. What if the next player of Malphoid is succesful in delivering all the mail on time (As impossible as that may seem)? Should a whole new, divergent sequel be created for him? If so, that makes timeline-making on this site a LOT harder. Borrowed Stuff from Other People's Universes Paper computer games steal stuff from EVERYWHERE. Characters from books, video games, and movies make appearances in PCGs and can even become central characters (such as Newman) without infringing on copyrights. That said, how much of these characters is canon? For example, Link made a few cameo appearances in Paper Computer Games. Should we now count all the games in the Legend of Zelda series of videogames as canon to the character, and hence to PCGs overall? It should be noted that Link later went on to feature in his own PCG, which appears to be set in the Zelda universe (Land of Hyrule), which is usually considered wholly separate from the PCG one. However, the game itself is a PCG. Doesn't that make it automatically canon? An easy solution would be to consider it a separate universe. The PCG universe is part of a multiverse (Which it has been established to be), and Hyrule is one neighboring universe (As, then, would also be the Star Trek universe, and the Star Wars one, and all the others which have been visited in PCGs. However, this doesn't work so well with characters like Newman. His backstory seems to place him firmly within the PCG universe, while still counting the series 'Seinfeld' as canon. Does that mean that Seinfeld is canon to PCGs? These issues are still uncertain. But for the time being, the rule for this wiki is to consider only the PCG-related appearances of Newman as canon - or, at least, as worthy for use as a source on the wiki. Category:Canon